Vintage table runner

Some time ago I found this unfinished little embroidered linen tablerunner at a charity shop. It reminded me so much of the kind of embroidery my mother did in the 1960'ies and I thought it had a certain modern vibe and expression that I like so much in a lot of vintage things. I'm not a fan of runners at all - thruth be told I find runners to be a strange piece of fabric - whether embroidered, crocheted or quilted - looking very odd on tables, shelves and credenzas and so many of them are - to me - just ugly, ugly, ugly.

But I checked the kit - there was plenty of linen thread and the pattern was in a fine, readable condition so
I took it home and finished it and really, really liked embroidering the little bugger :-)



The pattern and thread





Close-up




The finished runner




The back of the pattern with lots of info on the stitches


I began reading a lot of embroidery-blogs and was amazed at the skills and high standards.

One blog in particular blew my socks of - Contemporary Embroidery - by Karen Ruane.
It is just fabulous work. Really amazing. So delicious that you litterally want to eat it - promise!!
I'm not in her leage - far, far from it. Comparing is out of the question, next to her skills mine really, really sucks!
But she has inspired me so much that I later bought another unfinished embroidery kit (a HUGE crosstitch of a peacock) in another charity shop, read more blogs and became very interested in Jacobean Crewel.
So much that I have been practicing this kind of embroidery, learned a few of the many many stitches, bought several books on crewel and have made plans to go to London to take classes.

I just love that kind of inspiration and I blame Karen.
She knows that ;-)